"What we found was that any program that offered reduced fees was more specific than offering the reduced fees for all minority children - they were only lower for children who were African American."

I have only very casually browsed through adoption service websites, and I've seen this over and over and over again. It's hardly a secret.

Our state adoption may be a "special needs" adoption, since all AA children over the age of 6 are in that category. But not all "special needs" kids who are eligible for subsidies actually get them, and the lady running the training made it pretty clear that we could expect jack squat for a kid that could locomote under their own power and didn't start fires.

If anyone is wondering where some of us get the crazy idea that it's less expensive to adopt African American children, here is the cost sheet from Gladney.

For African American or Biracial infants and toddlers, the approx total sliding scale cost is $11,100 - $32,100. For Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, and/or Native American infants and toddlers it is $26,500 -$46,500.

Yes, I did, and truly, that is wonderful for this person. There are a wide range of adoption experiences, however, and many children will desire and need a higher level of openness than this.

It is in the best interest of any child to be in the home of adoptive parents who are at least of the mindset that they are willing to accomodate open adoption in some fashion if it is desired by birth parents and the child him/herself. There has been a huge amount of research supporting this. There are certainly situations in which open adoption is not a reality, but research supports the idea that at the very least, the adoptive parents should not be the barrier to open adoption.

Its interesting, because in my area there are TONS of AA kids in care, but also TONS of AA foster and adoptive parents. And i think most people are probably open to race as well. AA kids are overrepresented amongst waiting children in my state, but if the child is younger they usually place them quickly regardless.

They are also overrepresented in my state. However, I had a 4 year old AA boy with PDD-NOS on my caseload. Due to his young age and the fact that his behavioral needs weren't super high, I had over 50 families inquire about adopting him. I also had a four year old AA girl with a diagnosis of early on-set bipolar who had about as many inquiries. It is definitely true that age plays a huge role in how many people are interested in adoption.

I appreciate the facts that others have posted in response to this $2000 claim. I don't think it is okay to throw around this dollar amount in talking about subsidies, as even in states that allow for that much, it apparently isn't the norm. It's very rare when looking at the country as a whole, and just shouldn't be allowed to set the tone of these conversations.

There are a billion threads directed at me in this so I am just going to try to answer this last one and also bow out. I am not throwing around facts about $2k as if it is the norm. I was an adoption social worker for years. I am not frivolously throwing out a 2K claim. I stated that this was probably 1/20 of the adoptions that I did, and this was within the category of special needs. I am not sure why it is so difficult to believe. Here are some examples of children who received 2K:

FAS and seizures who is CD and has perped on three younger children. Breaks things constantly.

G-tube feed, in wheelchair, will never walk or talk. Medically fragile. Seizures.

Highly restricted diet, in OT, PT, ST, and is CD. Wheelchair most of the day. Parents must do in home therapy with her daily.

Fire starter.

RAD with 8 inpatient psych stays in a one year span. Early onset bipolar diagnosis.

These are kids who needed 2k in order to pay for respite care, additional therapies not covered by MA, special diets, constant supervision, etc. Having adopted children hardly makes one an expert on how much other individuals subsidies are.

Lastly, the statement that "white healthy kids cost more" can be viewed in two ways, both the way I stated, and the way that was initially stated. I just wanted to clarify that it is not accurate that you are absolutely going to pay more for a healthy Caucasian child than another child. In my state, domestic adoption costs around $10k and there are many healthy caucasian babies. If I were to adoption internationally, I would easily run a tab of 35K for a baby who was not Caucasian and who potentially was not completely healthy. There are unknowns with health no matter what though. That is all that I was stating. I didn't want people to have the impression (which the post made it seem this way) that if you walk into an adoption agency, and say you want a white healthy baby that they are going to say "well, sorry, that will cost you x more." That is not the case. Believe whatever you wish though.

In my state, adoption subsidies, if you adopt through the state, are the same as whatever foster care subsidy you got. I think they cap at about 1500 for the very highest medical level kids. I believe for your typical healthy foster kid it's roughly 550/month.

And I believe any kid adopted from foster care counts as a "special needs" adoption.

Mom to 5 wonderful kids (9, 6, 4, 2 and 0), 1 adopted through foster care. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

And I believe any kid adopted from foster care counts as a "special needs" adoption.

This is not true in my state and in many other states. Many states do not county healthy children under a certain age (in some states 2 yrs old, in MI its three years old) as "special needs"...i think they SHOULD be, esp for things like adoption expenses (medicals, court fees etc) and the tax credit, but in my state if you dont get subsidy you also don't get medicaid nor any other benefit. I wish there was a more uniform way of determining subsidy because it seems really unfair that in another state my son would be seen as a special needs adoption based on several factors, but here he is not. It also seems a bit unfair because you could adopt a "healthy" baby or toddler and then severe needs become apparent only after finalization. I have an online friend who adopted a "healthy" AA 2 yo boy, no subsidy no medical, but he has a host of attachment and behavior issues now that he is older, directly related to his birth family environment and time spent in FC, and he no doubt would have been given a subsidy if he had been three at adoption instead of two. The only recourse is a "medical subsidy" which basically means they may cover some therapy if you can find a medicaid provider which is hard to do.

I still think that 2K number isnt the norm for the VAST majority of special needs adoptions...in my state i do not think those situations listed (RAD, 24 hr care etc) would come even close to that number. I tried to adopt a little boy from WV who had multiple psych stays, attachment disorder, mild MR, possible autism, sexual abuse issues including acting out (mild), multiple disrupted placements including a disrupted adoption. His subsidy was going to be $600. I received info on a little boy out of WA state, he had severe autism and a bunch of other severe behavior stuff and some medical stuff and i think his subsidy was about to be in the $1300 range.

So i'm thinking that MA might just be a high subsidy state?

APToddlerMama, you said you had 1 in 20 adoptions that high...what about the rest? What was the typical subsidy for a child you approved?

Katherine, single homeschooling mom to Boy Genius (17) Thing One (6) and Thing Two (6) and one outgoing Girl (12) and hoping for more through foster care and adoption

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am not frivolously throwing out a 2K claim. I stated that this was probably 1/20 of the adoptions that I did, and this was within the category of special needs. I am not sure why it is so difficult to believe.

I think because the way I read the first post you wrote about this as 1/20 adoptions from foster care, not 1/20 special need adoptions. I don't find it difficult to believe the cases you described received such subsidies.

There are a billion threads directed at me in this so I am just going to try to answer this last one and also bow out. I am not throwing around facts about $2k as if it is the norm. I was an adoption social worker for years. I am not frivolously throwing out a 2K claim. I stated that this was probably 1/20 of the adoptions that I did, and this was within the category of special needs. I am not sure why it is so difficult to believe.

I guess my issue is that you seem to on the one hand be saying "lots" of families get that amount and i worry some readers might get the impression its quite common...but then by your own account, only five percent of the adoptions you did got that high of an amount, right? Meaning 95 percent of special needs adoptions got less, and i assume a significant percentage got ALOT less. What would you say that typical subsidy in your area is?

Also...not sure if you are still working in adoptions, but my experience is that states are REALLY cracking down on subsidy...it used to be in my county that in order to get a higher Level of Care you pretty much just had to request one (this is for FC)...now there is a whole checklist, with assigned "points" for each thing, you have to "earn" that increased amount. And the State is now asking SWs to ask their adoptive families to take less subsidy. I know in other states they are also making it harder to get a subsidy or an increased amount.

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Having adopted children hardly makes one an expert on how much other individuals subsidies are.

I would also say that working in adoptions in one state doesnt necessarily give one a broad picture of what the subsidy situation is for the country as a whole, and that being an adoptive parent who talks to lots of other adoptive parents from many different states may very well make one an "expert" on the range of subsidies that are typical for the average child adopted from foster care.

Katherine, single homeschooling mom to Boy Genius (17) Thing One (6) and Thing Two (6) and one outgoing Girl (12) and hoping for more through foster care and adoption